Japan executes a man convicted of setting fire that killed 5 at a pachinko parlor in Osaka
TOKYO (AP) — Japan on Friday announced the execution of a man convicted of killing five people after setting fire to an Osaka pachinko parlor in 2009, a first execution by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi ‘s government as the country faces growing calls for more…
Japan executed Sunao Takami, a 58-year-old man convicted of setting a deadly fire that killed five people at a pachinko parlor in Osaka in 2009, according to prosecutors. This marks the first execution by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government, amid growing calls for transparency and the abolition of capital punishment. Takami spread gasoline and ignited a match, causing the fire that resulted in five fatalities and ten injuries.
The Justice Minister, Hiroshi Hiraguchi, stated that the tragedy caused "extremely serious outcomes" and "a major shock and fear to the society." Takami's death sentence, handed down in 2011, was upheld in 2016 by the Supreme Court. Japan currently has 100 individuals on death row, with 43 of them seeking retrials. The country stands as one of only two G7 nations that still practice capital punishment.
Critics have increasingly called for an end to the death penalty, particularly following the 2024 acquittal of Iwao Hakamada, the world's longest-serving death-row inmate.
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